Fireball Europeans & Worlds at Lake Bracciano, Italy Report

Stevie Morrison gained his first win of the 2001 Fireball European and World Championships by taking the European crown in excellent form. The second week at Lake Bracciano in Italy saw some brilliant sailing and competitive racing, with Stevie taking the Worlds title to complete a spectacular double.

The Fireball European and World Championships were staged in the beautiful setting of Lake Bracciano in Italy. Teams had travelled from as far afield as Canada, Australia, Slovinia, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France and UK to take part. The level of sailors competing was as high and strong as ever with current and previous World, European and National champions from Fireballs and many other classes taking part. One notable absence from both the worlds and Europeans was the team of Thailand world champions DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend who had been unable to make it to this years championships.

Strong winds and glorious sunshine greeted the fleet of ninety boats during the first week's racing and then settled down to much lighter breeze for the worlds. The lighter conditions suited the teams who came from Lake sailing countries but was not so popular with the Brits. The spectacle of so many brightly coloured spinnakers together was one to behold.

Race one started in a force Four after one recall. First to the windward mark was Tim Rush and Robert Gardner, followed by Jeremy Davy and Matt flint. The first reach was very tight and the boats could not carry their spinnakers all the ways down the reach, this made the second reach broad and the boats that went to leeward benefited with the whole fleet closing up. On the last beat Davy hit hard right and passed Rush. With only the run to do before the finish, Rush managed to pass Davy on the run and go on to win from Davy and Dave Wade, Richard Wagstaff in third. These two were later disqualified for OCS giving Thomas Musil from the Czech. Republic third.

At the beginning of race two Dave Wade and Richard Wagstaff came from the left-hand side along with Richard Estaugh and Simon Potts and Eric and Rudy Moser on the first beat, to go round the windward mark in first, second and third respectively. Wade and Wagstaff held first to take a comfortable lead with Estaugh settling for a second place. Steve Morrison and Liam Murray came through on the last beat to take third. Tim Rush & Rob Gardiner secured a sixth to see them leading overall at the end of day one with Estaugh and Potts in second.

The third race of the Europeans started on Tuesday morning and was to see the biggest winds of the championships. Wade and Wagstaff used their weight advantage to lead at the windward mark, but Morrison's down wind speed soon gave him the leading edge. Horey and Raynyer flew down wind to take four places on last run and finished in fourth place with Rush and Gardner finishing in fifth place.

In race four, the Dutch pair of Tilstra and Huiskamp led at the windward mark in a brisk force five. They hoisted their spinnaker as did the first eight boats and sailed low. Morrison, Horey and Eastaugh sailed the reach and kept in that order up to the gybe mark. On the next broad reach Morrison and Horey pulled away from the fleet and held their own personal battle with Morrison keeping a a tight cover on Horey right to the finish. Tilstra recovered well to take third. When the boats got ashore Horey and the Dutch where found to have been OCS and lost their race positions as a result.

Race five started as it finished with Morrison leading from start to finish with Tim Rush in close contention. Peter Hay and Ewan Sellar sailed well in the big breeze which suited the scottish pair and the steady Rush was fourth with Wade having had a new rudder fitted was fifth.

Again the Dutch where enjoying the big breeze during race six and rounded first in front of Eastaugh, Rush, Wade, Morrison and Horey. They went for their Spinnaker again but it was a costly mistake. On one reach Wade's rudder broke, and both Morrison and Horey capsized as the breeze increased. At the finish it was the Czech team of Jon Thornman and R. Rocek who won after Rush who had been leading suffered problems with his last gybe.

At the start of race seven Morrison was in such a commanding lead, that he knew to sail steadily and led the race from start to finish in style. Tim Rush finished the race in second place so finished in a well-deserved second overall. Quite a comeback to Fireballs for Tim Rush this year. Richard Eastaugh was third in the race and took third place overall as well. Kevin Hope and Vince Horey came fourth and fifth pulling themselves up the leader table.

More teams arrived for the second week of the championships and a total of eighty- six boats from fourteen different countries competed for the title of Fireball world champion.

Race one of the world Championships started in force 1-2 and a slight chop totally different to the conditions from the week before, the first race got away after three recalls due to everybody being a bit jumpy and wanting to get a good start to the series. First to the windward mark were the boats that went hard right, and the fleet was lead by Mark and Simon Maskell, followed by Dave Wade and Richard Wagstaff, on the downwind legs Steve Morrison and Liam Murray, Ian Pinnell and David Scott, Thomas Musil and M. Kollaeck had joined these two, at the bottom of the reach Morrison fell out of his boat and was almost run down by Pinnell, Morrison manage to avoid a capsize and was able to finish the race. Maskell led to the finish and just managed to get across the line in front of Pinnell on the tight downwind finish, Wade was third.

Race two started directly after the last boat finished. This time the fleet got away first time and again it was the boats that went right that benefited. Angus Hemmings and Steve Chesney led at the first mark and they managed to maintain their lead right up to the finish. The pair were followed the whole way by the team of Kevin Hope and Simon Hextall with the Maskells boat lying in third. The top positions stayed the same until the last beat when the boats of Hemmings in 'Typhoon' and Maskell and Hope were joined by the boats of Morrison, Horey and Rush.

The wind got even lighter towards the finish when it looked like Horey's boat sailing furthest to the right may win when Hemmings and Chesney sailed across on a thirty- degree header to put a cover in, a brilliant move which won the race for the Typhoon sponsored pair. Second place went to Tim Rush and Rob Gardner with Morrison finishing in third. Vince Horey just pipped Kevin Hope and Simon Hextall taking fourth and leaving Hope to finish in fifth place. Ian Pinnell and David Scott came from in the twenties at the last mark sailing in stronger wind to the whole fleet to steal sixth place.

Monday morning dawned with a slightly stronger breeze and after two recalls Ian Pinnell and David Scott led at the first mark followed by the Maskells team and Horey. Pinnell wasn't challenged again and went on to win comfortably with the Maskells taking second place. Horey got the wrong side of the shift on the run and let Morrison and Mark Hofstetter through. Morrison went on to finish third, and Horey managed to re-pass the Swiss pair for fourth with Hofstetter fifth.

When race four started the sea breeze had kicked in and the win was up to a force three to four. It was Morrison's turn to lead from start to finish, followed by the constantly improving Czech team of Musil and Kolacek. Hemmings and Chesney were starting to put a series together with a third and Penny and Ian Gibb had their best result thus far in Forth, Richard Eastaugh and Simon Potts showed some of the form from the Europeans in Fifth.

Race five again started in a force two. After two general recalls the leaders at the first mark again came from the right, except Musil who was buried at the start and hit the left hand lay line, to lead at the windward mark. Proving that in did not matter which corner you hit as long as you went all the way, Hofstetter was second closely followed by Pinnell and Horey. Although Pinnell and Horey managed to gain on the Swiss pair on the beat, their weight advantage helped them hang onto second. Morrison had managed to climb up the fleet to take fifth place.

Again race six started straight after the last boat from the previous race had finished. Tim Rush was first to the mark followed by Andy Foskett and Howard Jones, with Horey in third. These three pulled away from the fleet with only Musil staying with them. Rush covered well and stayed cool on the run to win convincingly when Horey and Musil closed in on a gust from behind. Horey gybed inside Musil at the last mark for second with Musil third, Foskett sailed all by himself unchallenged for fourth, and Pinnell finished a steady fifth.

Wednesday was a lay day and most of the competitors took the opportunity to take in some of the wonderful sights around Bracciano and Rome. Racing resumed on Thursday but there was no wind until 4 pm when what appeared to be a late sea breeze kicked in. Easting showed why he has won so many world championships in different classes by leading from start to finish. Musil finished second and with Pinnell and Morrison lying in fifth and seventh overall the Czech team now lead the championship. The wind was beginning to drop and veering round to the right following the sun and the race officer found he could not set a final course so the whole fleet was sent in.

Going into the last day Five teams were still in the running to win, but Horey and Rush where lagging a bit behind of the leading trio of Pinnell, Morrison and Musil. After the token recall the fleet got away and again it was the boats that crossed early and went right. The Swiss pair of Liechti and wildi led from Czechs.Skelenar and Danek with the Moser brothers also from Swiss 3rd and Horey forth. Horey passed the Mosers on the spinnaker host and there was no placees changed at the front of the fleet until the final beat, when the Mosers went right and took the lead from Skelenar and Horey in second and third places.

The championship was being decided further back in the fleet however with Pinnell lying in fifth and Morrison in eighth when Pinnell tacked to clear his air and kept going left with decreasing pressure. Morrison was allowed to sail to the favoured right hand side of the beat. At the finish Moser won a very close finish with Horey and Skelenar. Morrison was 6th and Pinnell 7th. This meant that four boats where within two points for the title. A rumour going around out that Vince Horey's team was OCS was later confirmed by the race officer and ended the team's chances of winning the title. It had now become a three- horse race.

Both Ian Pinnell and Stevie Morrison knew what they had to do and incredibly these two led at the windward mark with Wade Third and Musil was in forth keeping up his challenge for the title. Morrison had gained the advantage and kept a tight cover on Pinnell, while both kept an eye on Musil. By the time they reached the last windward mark it was clear that the world champion would come from this pair. Pinnell kept gybing across Morrison's transom, but could not quite get the edge he needed to pass Morrison. At the finish Morrison just managed to finish half a boat length in front of Pinnell, winning the Championship by 0.7 of a point. Musil's fourth gave him a well earned third place overall.

The championship's proved very popular with both sailors and spectators and was judged to be a great success by all. Stevie Morrison was particularly proud as he told other competitors just before the prize giving it wqs exactly twenty years ago that his father had won the Fireball World championships! Howzat!

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